1. Field of the Invention
The present disclosure relates to the field of doorstops, particularly a gliding doorstop with a substantially sinusoidal cross sectional shape that allows a door to be manually moved with the gliding doorstop in place underneath the door.
2. Background
Doorstops are commonly used to hold doors in place and/or prevent them from closing. For example, doorstops can be used with doors that are otherwise configured to close automatically in order to keep the doors open during business hours or when high traffic is expected. Doorstops can also be used with doors to keep them fully or partially open, and/or prevent movement of the doors due to wind or impacts from passersby.
However, most doorstop designs require that the doorstop be entirely removed from underneath a door to allow the door to be moved. For example, most conventional doorstops are wedge-shaped, with the wedge's smaller end fitting underneath the door and the larger end being positioned in front of or behind the door. With these types of doorstops, even slightly moving the door requires a user to remove the wedge from under the door, reposition the door, and replace the wedge under the door to keep it in its new position. It can be physically inconvenient for users to bend over to move conventional doorstops, or to kick them in or out of position.
Additionally, conventional doorstops are often used only to keep doors fully or partially opened, and are entirely removed when the doors are closed. A removed doorstop must then be stored elsewhere, or left on the floor near the door so the doorstop can be used when needed again in the future. However, doorstops can be easily misplaced when stored away from the doors they are intended to be used with, and leaving unused doorstops on the floor can create tripping hazards.
What is needed is a gliding doorstop that can remain positioned under a door at all times, and be configured to prevent unintentional movement of the door while also allowing the door to be manually moved to a new set position while the gliding doorstop is in place under the door. When installed under a door, such a gliding doorstop should be able to provide enough frictional resistance to prevent unwanted movement of the door due to normal amounts of wind or other elements, but be slideable such that a human user can overcome the gliding doorstop's frictional resistance and move the door to a new position.